This invention relates to a sabot-equipped projectile broadly similar to the projectile assemblies shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,496,869 to Engel and U.S. Pat. No. 3,714,900 to Feldmann. Each of the patented constructions is characterized by a sabot in the form of a plastic sleeve that is frictionally adhered to a centrally located core or penetrator. The plastic sleeve is formed with slots or grooves at evenly spaced points around the sleeve surface, whereby the sleeve is weakened to facilitate centrifugal breakup of the sleeve into segments after exit of the assembly from the gun barrel.
The present invention is directed to a plastic segmented sabot wherein the segments are completely separate from one another at initial manufacture. The segments are held on the penetrator core by a mechanical interlock and/or by one or more plastic bands formed integrally with alternate ones of the segments; gun rifling severs the bands to free the segments for action by centrifugal force as the sabot-penetrator assembly exits from the barrel. Advantages sought by the invention are utilization of a broad range of low cost plastics in preference to expensive materials, uniform separation of the sabot segments from the core, and lack of deflection of the core from its designated flight path during the period when the sabot segments are separating. In this connection it is noted that the sabots described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,714,900 and 3,496,869 depend on failure of the plastic material at the most variable points in the plastic molding, i.e. the thinnest cross section. Mechanically interlocked segments, as proposed in the present invention, will have a more uniform or predictable performance due to reliability of the mechanical joints.
The invention described herein may be manufactured, used, and licensed by or for the Government for governmental purposes without payment to me of any royalty thereon.